


Unerringly Harry

by hp_fangal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24238348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hp_fangal/pseuds/hp_fangal
Summary: "Minerva McGonagall has learned many things about Harry Potter over the years." A look at what she has learned, and how she uses those lessons to inform how she handles Harry's refusal to slow down after the final battle.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Unerringly Harry

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for the creation of this particular fic idea comes squarely from a tumblr post by thebiwholived. "Give me allllllll the fics about McGonagall looking out for Harry after the battle." [Tumblr link](https://hpfangal.tumblr.com/post/617771198588370944/kinda-going-on-from-what-you-said-abt-harry-not)
> 
> This was in response to an anon ask about McGonagall finding subtle ways to take care of Harry when he refuses to slow down and helps with rebuilding Hogwarts on top of all the other things he's doing to support everyone else because let's face it: Harry is brimming with guilt about every death and every inch of damage the castle sustained because he wasn't faster in completing his mission. And thusly, this little ficlet was born. Enjoy!

Minerva McGonagall has learned many things about Harry Potter over the years.

His first year, she learned that Harry will always do what he perceives to be the right thing, even at the risk of his own life. He shows this in the way he catches what she notices later is a Remembrall, the property of another student he refuses to see stolen. There's also the matter of the troll he and Ron Weasley take on to save Hermione Granger's life, and at the end of the school year, seeing his still body in the hospital wing after taking on Voldemort himself to try and protect the Philosopher's Stone. He had nearly died that night!

Harry is unerringly determined.

His second year, Minerva learns that Harry is incredibly loyal to the point of idiocy. Flying the enchanted car at Ron's suggestion is both foolhardy and risks the exposure of their world to Muggles, but she somehow knows that expelling him would not do him any good, no matter what Severus might think. She knows he stuck with Ron no matter that the idea he had to fly the car was completely ludicrous. That loyalty extends to helping Hermione Granger make Polyjuice Potion, sneaking into the Slytherin common room, even venturing into the Forbidden Forest to speak to a nest of acromantulas (and really, she ought to be more surprised such dangerous creatures now call the forest their home, but given they were placed there by Hagrid, it's more of a resigned consternation she feels), and of course, once again risking his life to save the youngest of the family Harry clearly cares more about than anything else.

Harry is unerringly kind.

His third year, Minerva learns that Harry is determined to face his fears. Remus can't help but tell her about the Dementor lessons he offers Harry, how Harry is unwilling to stop until Remus forces him to. When Draco Malfoy and his friends attempt to scare Harry at the match against Ravenclaw, she sees him cast a Patronus that is large and corporeal, but she doesn't quite manage to figure out what it is before it bowls over the boys dressed as Dementors, and she knows Harry isn't going to let fear stand in his way.

Harry is unerringly brave.

His fourth year, Minerva learns that Harry does _not_ give up, even when the odds are stacked against him. He is forced into a tournament he has no business participating in against three students with at least two years more of a magical education than he has had, and Minerva watches him rise to the demands asked of him again and again, the determination, kindness, and bravery she already knows shining through when he rescues Gabrielle Delacour along with his best friend. Then she is forced to reckon with the reality that a Death Eater infiltrated Hogwarts and guided her student through the tournament as part of a horrifying plot to return You-Know-Who to power. She is burdened with the knowledge that Harry watched a classmate die and suffered at the hand of a terrible man, only to escape by a miraculous set of circumstances she _scarcely_ comprehends in all her years of magic. Cedric is dead, but Harry brought him back despite injury and impossible odds.

Harry is unerringly steadfast.

His fifth year, Minerva learns that Harry is incredibly stubborn. He will not back down and give into the idea that he's mad, or a liar. He refuses to let anyone say that Cedric's death was a tragic accident as the Ministry of Magic seems determined to insist upon. He does not stop when he is called a liar, when he is threatened with expulsion, nor when Minerva herself warns him to keep his head down. He seems reckless and angry, and when she returns from St. Mungo's, it is with the heavy knowledge that Harry lost Sirius, and that his friends were harmed in his quest to see Sirius alive and well.

Harry is unerringly committed.

His sixth year, Minerva learns that Harry is a teenager beyond the shadow of a doubt. He deals with girls following him, ignores whispers about how the Daily Prophet calls him the "Chosen One", and bears the dramatics between his best friends with a quiet kindness the likes of which she hasn't seen in some time. And when he is dating Ginny Weasley, she sees him smile, really smile, and she realizes just how unhappy the boy has been all these years, and how much that has changed with Ginny at his side. Then Dumbledore dies, and she sees him refuse the Minister's desire to use him, sees him stand tall with his friends to face an uncertain future.

Harry is unerringly resolute.

In what should have been his seventh year, Minerva learns that Dumbledore left Harry a mission, that his friends are in hiding at his side as he shoulders a burden beyond his years and works to take down Voldemort once and for all. She learns that the darkest scum of the earth love power. She learns that the friends Harry left behind are bound and determined to carry on his message of hope and strength. They are loyal to the light, to Harry, to the hope of a future free of tyranny and oppression.

One night, she is faced with a Harry who tortures another to defend her honor. "He spat at you," is all he says to her shock and indignation. And then the truth (or as much as he's willing to share) comes out that he is close to finishing Dumbledore's mission, but he needs more time.

For Harry, Minerva does just that, ensures more time.

That night, she sees someone filled with every inch of the determination, kindness, bravery, steadfastness, commitment, and resolution she already knows Harry to possess taking on burdens beyond his years. She also sees the guilt that dogs his every move that night, and when Hagrid emerges from the forest with Harry's body in his arms, she comes undone.

The young man doesn't deserve death. He deserves so much better than an ending at Voldemort's hand (and what's the use of fearing the name anymore?), but she knows he didn't attempt to flee.

Harry doesn't flee.

He _sacrificed_ himself. She screams her rage and pain into the pre-dawning air at the sight of the young man she has watched over. Watched over, yet _failed_.

But when he emerges in the final battle alive and takes Voldemort down once and for all, Minerva learns that Harry is unerringly heroic.

So when reconstruction of Hogwarts begins, of course he turns up to help however he can.

Minerva wants to turn him away, wants him to rest, but she knows him too well by now to think that he'd listen. She sees the dark circles under his eyes, the pallor of his skin, the worried looks on the faces of those who love him, but he comes back day after day as though determined to somehow set right every wrong.

Harry clearly sees the battle, every injury, even every death, as his fault, his wrongs to make amends for.

Minerva can't stop him from being there every day while waiting for the breakdown Ginny whispers will come in time. But she will do what she can to ease his burdens and guilt.

She starts with food. Ginny says he isn't eating enough at the Burrow despite her mother's best efforts, so Minerva makes sure that Harry (and everyone else assisting in the repairs) is fed by the house elves in the castle. Kreacher, Harry's elf, is particularly determined to ensure his master doesn't skip meals. Minerva hears his croaking voice tell Harry that "food makes Master Harry strong enough to keep working" and has to conceal a smile.

She can't keep Harry from working, but she does breathe easier when he doesn't fight Kreacher on this particular point.

Harry seems to prefer to work alone, and that just will not do. Minerva finds reasons to be working in the same area, chats aimlessly about the ridiculous things that have happened in her classroom, and the first time Harry genuinely smiles at her tales makes her heart all but burst in pride.

Ginny isn't the only person who can make Harry smile now.

Ron and Hermione help out as much as they can, but there's a trip Hermione must make to Australia to find her parents, and Ron goes with her. Minerva sees the worry in their gaze as they discuss this between repairs on the third floor.

Minerva starts working hard to draw Harry into conversation after they leave, reminiscing about their antics the previous years, and Harry reluctantly joins in to fill her in on details she didn't previously know, like the misuse of the Time Turner she had to work so hard to procure for Hermione to use in order to rescue both Buckbeak the hippogriff and Sirius Black.

Harry's face goes dark at the mention of his deceased godfather, and he is quiet for some time after, face pensive and drawn in equal turns. But Minerva doesn't give up, does what she can to keep Harry from sinking too deeply in dark moments like this one.

Ginny says that Harry isn't sleeping, so Minerva starts insisting on mandatory breaks throughout the day, no exceptions. Unsurprisingly, Harry balks at this, but Minerva refuses to back down. She tells him they are not only on schedule to repair Hogwarts, but _ahead_ of schedule, and the health of everyone helping is a top priority. So Harry gives in, Ginny finding time to be there at every break, mouthing "thank you" to Minerva as she leads Harry away for the first one.

Minerva wishes she could do so much more, but whatever she does has to benefit everyone or she knows Harry won't do it. He won't be made to take special treatment from anyone, and so Minerva must respect that.

The breaks, the food, the conversation, these kinds of things benefit everyone working on repairing Hogwarts, and Minerva would stalwartly deny out loud that it was all done specifically for Harry.

Ginny knows better, given the frequent smiles and care packages Molly sends with her for Minerva.

So it goes, volunteers coming together daily to see the castle restored, Harry always among them unless called away to stand witness at a trial, of which there will soon be many, many more.

Then Harry misses a day of helping when Minerva knows there are no trials to attend. A tiny owl shows up in the late morning bearing a message from Ginny. It is short and makes Minerva sink into her chair, a mixture of relief and sorrow filling her every bone to its marrow:

_Harry reached his breaking point._

It only took around three weeks, she thinks as she waves off the irritating owl. But then, she knows Harry has _years_ of unresolved pain and trauma he's never dealt with. It is glaringly obvious now, all the ways in which she has failed Harry over the years. She knew the Muggles wouldn't be the best, but when Ginny's tense voice whispers about the things she _does_ know, it breaks Minerva's heart. Harry has always been deserving of love and kindness, of family and friendship. His reckless nature is made more obvious with everything Ginny unearths, and she unearths a great many things.

Really, Harry is blessed beyond measure to have Ginny in his life.

After the breakdown, Harry finally seems to find balance, slows down (though never enough by Minerva's reckoning), and starts taking time to just be.

When he's at Hogwarts, he starts to participate more in conversations about his Hogwarts days, sly grin lighting his face when he describes yet another rule he broke under Minerva's nose. His first laugh is at a joke of Ginny's, but it attracts the attention of everyone in the area, and Minerva sees hope and joy in that moment that she has longed for Harry to have all this time.

Minerva cannot give Harry back his childhood, but she can be a part of why life is enjoyable now.

Harry launches into the Auror training program halfway through June with Ron and Neville Longbottom at his side, and Minerva sees less of him after that, but he still frequently checks in on his free days, helping wherever he can, even starting to sit down to tea and biscuits with Minerva as work needs wane and the castle finally looks as it once did, though Minerva can still see the scars if she looks hard enough.

They all bear scars now. Harry more than most, though all but one are invisible.

"I hope you know," she tells Harry on his final visit before term starts, "how proud I am of you."

Harry's face flushes and he ducks his head, ruffling his hair much like his father used to do. After a moment, he answers her quietly.

"Thank you."

And Minerva remembers that Harry is unerringly humble. Unerringly just. Unerringly courageous and hardworking and smart.

Unerringly Harry.


End file.
